Friday, November 18, 2011

In cooperation with Curtis Bay Elementary/Middle School, the Filbert Street Garden has started to pilot a sprouts growing program for winter. With quick germination times, mess free growing, and no need for special equipment, sprouts are a teacher's best friend when it comes to growing edibles in the classroom. The first part of this program consists of 4 45 minute long lessons. Both Ms. Wells' class and Ms. Ahmann's class just had their 1st lessons recently, and they are off to a great start.

Students work in groups, or if the class is small enough, as a class.

After we learn a little bit about sprouts and sprout anatomy, the taste test begins!

Students use the color-coded plates to help them remember which kinds of sprouts they liked the most (Alfalfa and Broccoli did well for themselves) which they liked the least (poor Radish, getting no love) and what one distinguishing characteristic of each sprout is.

After the taste test is over, each group is challenged to come up with their "Perfect Sprout Recipe."

What blend of the

varieties they tasted will yield the tastiest sprout salad?

The teams use a very basic pie graph to color in

how many slices of each sprout type they want...

using the colors of the color-coded plates.

After each group has colored in their recipe, they share their pie chart with the class, and recognize the similarities and differences in each other's preferences.

After they've made their comparisons, we all work together to develop...

Saturday, November 5, 2011

For any folks who weren't able to make the Garden Day, it was a truly fantastic day! Huge thanks to the members of the Curtis Bay community, Mr. Dallas' and Ms. Well's Classes from Curtis Bay Elementary/Middle, the students from Ben Franklin High School, UMBC, Towson, CCYD, Parks and People Foundation, the Knott Foundation, Open Society Institute, Child First Authority, and the Baybrook Coalition. With the help of 90+ volunteers, we managed to finish the first half of the Community Nature Trail,

the CBEMS Green Team
(under the guidance of Mr. Toma Solano)
built Cold Frames to allow them
to grow food for their fellow
students throughout the
winter months,

and we prepared the garden for the changing seasons.

After almost 6 hours of work, everyone was ready for the music of local group the Dead Whale Ramblers, whose music made a great accompaniment to the campfire dinner of Pumpkin Stew, Hot Dogs, Veggie Dogs, salsa, veggies, and S'mores.